The short answer
Web designers charge in three ways: by the hour, by the day or by the project. The published rates below are quoted as their sources wrote them, in their own currency, with no conversion and no blended average.
| Who you hire | Hourly or day rate | Typical project |
|---|---|---|
| UK freelancer, junior or mid-level | £25 to £50 an hour, £200 to £350 a day (Expertsure) | Template-based sites with light changes |
| UK freelancer, experienced | £40 to £80 an hour, £300 to £500 a day (Expertsure) | Custom design and CMS builds |
| UK freelancer, specialist or senior | £70 to £120 an hour, £400 to £550 a day (Expertsure) | Complex builds, online stores, integrations |
| UK agency | £60 to £150 an hour (Whito) | £3,000 to £30,000+ per site (Expertsure) |
| German freelancer | €60 to €120 an hour (Sellwerk) | €800 to €5,000 for 3 to 10 pages (Sellwerk) |
| German agency | €80 to €150 an hour (Sellwerk) | €2,500 to €8,000 for a small agency, 5 to 10 pages; €5,000 to €25,000 for a larger one (Sellwerk) |
| US designer or agency | $20 to $125 an hour for UX designers on Fiverr (Shopify) | $500 to $5,000+ for a basic small business site; $3,000 to $30,000+ for agency design (WebFX) |
How to read these figures. They are price guides published by agencies, platforms and comparison sites, which have an interest in the topic, not a survey of what buyers paid. Use them to judge whether a quote is in the normal range, not to decide what a project should cost.
What a freelance web designer charges per project
Most freelancers quote a fixed price for the whole site, and the size of the site sets the band. Expertsure's 2026 guide for the UK lists these freelancer project ranges:
| Website type | Pages | Freelancer price, UK |
|---|---|---|
| Basic brochure site | 3 to 5 | £500 to £1,500 |
| Standard business site | 5 to 10 | £1,500 to £3,000 |
| Small business site with a CMS | 10 to 20 | £2,000 to £5,000 |
| Online store | Varies | £3,000 to £10,000 |
| Complex custom site | 20+ | £10,000 to £50,000+ |
Whito puts a five-page freelancer brochure site at £1,500 to £3,000, the same band. In Germany, Sellwerk lists €800 to €5,000 for a freelancer building 3 to 10 pages on a template or a custom design. Expertsure's explanation for the gap with agencies is simple: with a freelancer you pay for one person's time and skills, without the overhead of account managers, project managers and an office.
What a web design agency charges
Agencies charge more per hour and much more per project, because a team does the work: strategy, design, development, copy and project management. Whito lists UK agency rates at £60 to £150 an hour. Expertsure places a micro or boutique UK agency at £2,000 to £5,000 for 5 to 10 pages, a regional agency at £3,000 to £8,000 and a full-service London agency at £8,000 to £30,000+. In Germany, Sellwerk gives €80 to €150 an hour for agencies, and in the US WebFX puts agency design at $3,000 to $30,000+.
The wide ranges are not noise. They reflect how much of the work the agency takes on: whether it writes the content, plans the structure, handles search, and stays accountable after launch.
Hourly, fixed price or monthly retainer
- Hourly or day rate. Common for small changes and open-ended work. The risk sits with you: if the job takes longer, you pay for it.
- Fixed project price. The normal way to buy a new site. Expertsure advises agreeing a fixed project price rather than paying by the hour, to avoid scope creep.
- Monthly retainer. For care after launch. Expertsure lists maintenance retainers at £50 to £150 a month with a freelancer and £100 to £500 a month with an agency, and ad hoc content updates at £50 to £100 an hour from an agency. That is the honest answer to "how much does a web designer cost per month".
Why the hourly rate is a poor guide
A low rate does not mean a low bill. Sellwerk makes the point directly: the hourly rate alone says little, because what decides the cost is how many hours the job needs and who supplies the strategy, the text and the images. Whito puts it the other way round: a freelancer at £50 an hour who understands your business can produce a better result than an agency at £120 an hour that treats you like a template.
So compare what each quote delivers, not the rate it is built from. A senior designer who needs half the hours and gets the structure right the first time is often the cheaper option.
How much should you pay a web designer?
Match the person to the scope. Expertsure's rule of thumb for the UK: a site builder if your budget is under £1,000, a freelancer for custom work between £1,000 and £5,000, and an agency for complex projects over £5,000 where you also need strategic guidance. Whatever you choose, a fair quote lists:
- The pages and features it covers, and the price of adding one.
- Who writes the content and who supplies the photography.
- The number of revision rounds included.
- What you own at the end: design files, code, domain and accounts.
- The running costs after launch, and whether a retainer is expected.
- A fixed price for the scope described, with changes agreed in writing.
If you are weighing a specific number, our guide to what a website costs in 2026 covers whether $1,500 is a good price, and the website cost calculator prices your own scope line by line for the US, the UK and the EU.
Freelancer, studio or agency: which to hire
A freelancer suits a clear, small scope where you can supply the content and make the decisions. A small senior-led studio suits a business whose website is a main source of leads, where you want design, copy and search handled together without paying for a large team. A larger agency suits complex builds with integrations, several stakeholders and formal accountability. Before you brief anyone, the website grader shows whether your current site needs a repair or a rebuild, and the brand guidelines template gets the brand decisions made first, which shortens any project.
Methodology and limits
- What is quoted
- Every rate and range is shown as its source published it, in its own currency and units, with no conversion, no rounding and no average. A "+" means the source gave no upper limit.
- Sources
- Price guides from comparison sites, platforms and agencies in the UK, Germany and the US. None is an independent survey of what buyers paid, and some publishers sell the services they price, so we cite them by publisher, title and date rather than linking to them. The figures were checked against the source pages saved on 13 October 2026. Clutch's hourly figures are left out because its pages could not be checked directly.
- Currencies and tax
- No source says clearly whether its rates include VAT or sales tax; ask on any quote.
- Our own prices
- DEMARCA sends a fixed-price proposal for a described scope within one working day. This guide does not compare our prices with the sources above.
- Limits
- Rates move and guides are rewritten every year. Use them to decide what to ask for, not what to pay.
Sources
- Expertsure, Website Design Costs UK (September 2026)
- Whito, How Much Does a Website Cost in the UK? Web Design Prices 2026 (October 2026)
- Sellwerk, Germany, What does a website cost for a small business? Prices and examples (undated, in German)
- WebFX, How Much Does a Website Cost in 2026? (May 2026)
- Shopify, How Much Does a Website Cost? (2026 Guide) (September 2026), citing Fiverr